In a recent interview with GamesBeat, The Tetris Company's Henk Rogers reveals that the mobile version of the classic puzzle game has been downloaded more than 425 million times. That figure does not include free-to-play versions of the game, which Rogers apparently is not a big fan of.

"It's really spread over the whole period where phones have become able to play games," said Rogers, who was managing director of The Tetris Company until his daughter took control in December last year.

"That first happened in Japan. Then it sprang up in the U.S. and Korea and other places. That's a total number over the last 14 years or so."

Rogers goes on to say that the number does not include the 70 million boxed copies of the game sold for the Game Boy and other platforms.

Speaking of free-to-play, Rogers told GamesBeat in the interview that he has some serious concerns about the whole free-to-play model that is popular these days.

"You could spend a couple of million dollars and build a great product in the old days, and then you'd know that a certain number of them would be sold. Nowadays, you have to build the game and then hope you can keep nickel-and-dime-ing people afterward. You have to interrupt the experience asking for money, and I think it takes away from the game."

"What's wrong with paying a little money? People won't spend the amount of money they'd spend on a cup of coffee for a game that could last them weeks. The value proposition's gotten all screwed up. People expect something for nothing."

When asked about the 90 percent of mobile revenue taken in by The Tetris Company from free-to-play titles now, Rogers countered by simply saying, "Which is why my daughter is running the company and not me."